Author: Takeuchi Naoko
© 2000 Mixx Entertainment, Inc.
© 1996 Takeuchi Naoko

For the most part, my knowledge of SAILOR MOON is pretty limited. All my knowledge is from the couple of English dubbed anime episodes that I have seen on TV, and that stupid Super Nintendo game that I played a part of. So, you can imagine how confusing it would be for someone who doesn't have that much experience with a particular series to come in at the very end of one of its story arcs. But I'm going to try.
In this fourth and final volume of SAILOR MOON SUPERS series, the Senshi conclude their battle with the Dead Moon Circus and the nefarious Queen Nephrenia to once again save the world from evil. So, this volume was essentially one long fight scene with a flashback thrown in the middle and a bonus mini story at the end.
One interesting thing was that the flashback seemed to have a very close resemblance to the beginning of the old Disney animated movie SLEEPING BEAUTY. At the beginning of that movie, there is a large party to celebrate the birth of the queen's daughter; and everybody is invited except for the mean old witch. This annoys the evil witch so much that she crashes the party and puts a curse on the newly born princess. That's pretty much how the flashback in this manga went, except you would substitute Queen Nephrenia with the evil witch. The mini story has Rini getting sick, going to the hospital, and causing all kinds of wacky trouble.
Another interesting thing about this manga is that the English translation is different from the English anime version. The manga does have some of the names and terms used in the anime, but it also has a lot of the original Japanese names and terms. In fact, it's probably best to say that it's a combination of the two versions. For example, the heroes are referred to as both Sailor Scouts and Sailor Senshi.
The art is typical shojo artwork. Long thin limbs and pointed chins. And like most manga, the characters go from highly detailed to cleanly drawn. Also there are the trademark manga action lines in the background. If you like Takeuchi's style, then you will find this no different from her other works.
The dialogue wasn't what you would call riveting. Although, to be fair, I don't know how much intellectual dialogue you can have in a fight. The dialogue pretty much consisted of people yelling out other people's names and yelling out the names of their special attacks. This wouldn't be too bad, except for the fact that some of the names given to these special moves sound really stupid in English. What is a "Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss"?
One final thing that I noticed about this volume and SAILOR MOON in general is that there are almost too many characters to keep track of. For the most part half the characters appearing in this volume could be absent and it wouldn't have changed a thing. I'm sure in the long run every character has a moment in the spotlight, but for this particular manga some of the characters just seemed superfluous.
If you have already read the first three volumes, then by all means get this one. But those who haven't read the first three volumes and don't know that much about SAILOR MOON will probably want to read something else instead.

English version published in North America by Mixx Entertainment, Inc.
168 pages; b&w
ISBN 1-892213-39-7
$9.95
Available now in the USA
Where to buy